We Never Go Out of Style

Visualizing Taylor Swift’s 1989-era outfits of the Eras Tour
Published

October 6, 2024

Photo by Paolo Villanueva. IG: @itspaolopv.

This is my second post in a series visualizing the outfits that Taylor Swift wears in her Eras Tour. Of all the outfits Taylor wears in each era, the one that’s particularly interesting to Swifties right now is the 1989 era. From the start of her tour in March 2023 to the end of her Asia-Pacific leg a year later, her outfits in this era were relatively simple. She always wore a sparkly metallic skirt/top set with a fringe—always matching in color. And the colors were only ever pink, green, orange, or blue. But then the Europe leg began and introduced major changes. The top and skirt no longer necessarily matched in color, and the outfits themselves dropped the metallic fringe in favor of a more simplistic (but still similar) skirt/top set. In my opinion, the mayhem following this change is best illustrated in an Instagram reel compiled by @bigrep1985.

In the chart below, we can see the 1989 outfits mapped over the first year of the Eras Tour (up until the Europe leg). Hover over individual outfits to see the details for that show.

Some important context for the chart above: Taylor debuted her blue set at the end of the U.S. and Canada leg in August 2023, during which she announced 1989 (Taylor’s Version). This established a precedent for Taylor in announcing upcoming releases during shows and having those announcements correspond to outfit changes.

When the Europe leg hit, viewers quickly recognized new wardrobe additions for nearly every era. For example, there were new “Enchanted” dresses for Speak Now and new phrases on the RED T-shirts. The only era that changed outfits completely was 1989, which is why fans suspected a clue hidden specifically in that era. Swifties started to take note of what color combinations Taylor wore, developing theories as to what they might mean. The fans drew compelling connections based off these new color combinations and anxiously awaited what she’d bring out next. Because 1989 is the album that precedes Reputation, many felt that Taylor’s new outfit combinations were an Easter egg for the much anticipated Reputation (Taylor’s Version).

In the chart below, I’ve tracked statistics for both individual outfit pieces and outfit combinations. The dropdown menu in the top right indicates which statistics to view.

Whether these outfits are clues to Repuation (Taylor’s Version), Debut (Taylor’s Version), or even Karma is up to the Swiftie to decide. Whatever your theory of choice, I hope my visualizations can reveal some new findings for you to predict whatever comes next!

As with my previous post, I give special thanks to Nick Braun (@nicksversion on TikTok) for carefully collecting Taylor’s outfit data throughout the Eras Tour. I used Nick’s spreadsheet to create these visualizations and couldn’t have done it without them!